staff development opportunities

Personnel development is defined as improving the knowledge and skills of an organization’s employees through training.

Organizations that invest in people development have found that it improves efficiency, improves productivity, ensures continuation of institutional knowledge, reduces turnover, lowers costs, improves employee morale, and increases employee job satisfaction. Human resources development can also give the organization greater planning flexibility and lead to operational improvements.

People development can take many forms, as illustrated in the following tables:

Human resources development carried out within the organization

maintenance

A conscious combination of a person with more skills/experience with a person with less experience/experience, with the mutually agreed aim of growing the latter and developing specific professional skills or organizational knowledge.

job shadowing

Working with another employee who may have another job, have something to teach, or can help the person observing him or her learn new aspects related to the job, the organization, specific behaviors, or competencies.

job change

Employees are scheduled to be transferred between two or more jobs. The aim is to expose employees to different experiences and to develop a greater variety of skills in order to increase job satisfaction and train them across the board.

committee duties

Cross-departmental committees work permanently or temporarily on a specific order.

training programs

Formal learning sessions to build skills in organization-sponsored classroom workshops.

Human resources development carried out within the organization

Special teams or task forces

Cross-departmental teams were formed for a specific purpose, to work on a specific project or to find a solution to a very critical problem.

e-learning programs

Training modules available through an online learning system.

Leadership development programs

A range of leadership programs for selected employees with leadership potential. This may consist of planned formal training programs as well as a work project assignment to solve an organizational problem.

Brown Bag/Lunch and Study Sessions

Training during the lunch break. Employees bring their own lunch to the meeting

Book discussion groups

Groups of people who meet regularly to discuss books that all members have read.

Personnel development carried out in the workplace

on-the-job training

One-on-one training on the job site, where someone who knows how to do a job shows someone else how to do it.

Professional enrichment

Assignment of additional responsibilities normally reserved for senior staff.

cross training

To teach an employee hired to perform a work function the skills required to perform other work functions

stretch application

A project or task given to employees that exceeds their current knowledge or ability and places them in awkward situations where they need to learn and grow.

peer coaching

Two or more employees work together to reflect on current practices; expand, refine and build new skills; share ideas; teach each other; Carry out research; or solve problems at work.

staff meetings

Employees learn from each other. Short skill-building sessions can be built into staff review time.

Personnel development carried out outside the organization

sabbatical

An extended vacation, often a year long, taken by an employee to undertake projects not otherwise related to the employee’s job. The employer may pay some or all of the wages that would otherwise have been earned or some or all of the costs incurred.

action learning

Small groups of colleagues meet over time to address real issues or issues, to get things done; reflect and learn with and from their experiences and from each other while trying to change things.

professional associations

Opportunities to gain new knowledge and skills at conferences and regular meetings, and to learn how other organizations are dealing with similar issues.

Academic Programs

Courses or non-university courses. Some organizations bring an instructor to the job site and give employees paid time off to participate. Others provide a stipend to support employees gaining accreditation in skills useful to the organization.

voluntary work

Employers provide local organizations with staff time, professional skills and company resources free of charge.

Some offer employees time off during the workday to volunteer. Others coordinate duty days for their employees to work together on large group projects.

independent learning

Employees take the initiative to diagnose their learning needs, formulate learning goals, and identify human and physical learning resources.

TED Talks

Twenty-minute instructional videos created from a presentation at the main TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference or one of its many satellite events around the world

Internet Resources

Online Educational Programs.

What personal development opportunities does your company offer? Are there any others I should have included?

Thanks to Deborah Laurel | #staff #development #opportunities